Getting the house and finances organised…slowly

Financial Friday: The Joy of Bonus Time

The one major thing I want to do with our finances this year is to completely clear the credit cards. Not to load them up again over Christmas as I know many do but to keep them clear by a) not overspending and b) paying them off every month.

Now I don’t get a bonus at my workplace seeing as it’s a small firm but then neither do I have to deal with the corporate BS that hubby has to. He’s completed his bonus objectives over the year as well as he could, had a ‘performance review’ with his manager and finally HR has contacted him to advise that yes, he can have his full bonus this year with a small pay rise. Hurrah! A head start indeed with clearing the cards.

It appears that bonus time at large companies brings out the worst in people. From stories of people using their reviews to have a moan about the company (can’t quite see how that’ll get you that bonus) to those who ‘big themselves up’ saying they’re five star material then being oh, so shocked that they don’t get the figures they believe they should. And there are always the people who have spent their bonus money before they are even aware of how much they’ll get!

Now I’ll admit to hoping for hubby to get a large bonus, say a trillion pounds but I’m very happy with any amount, after all even £50 is better than nothing.

The stories from bonus time that always amaze me the most are the ‘hard-up’ cases. The ones who regal hubby with how hard life is, how the bonus won’t allow them to buy x, y, z and yet only the other week were happily chatting about the new ‘thing’ they just bought and oh, could they borrow a fiver for lunch?

It’s not the overspending that confuses me, I understand how easy it is now with credit cards – just look at mine – but while I’m trying to learn, improve and plan for the future others appear quite happy to moan about what they can’t afford whilst standing in their designer clothes, sipping their takeaway coffee and with their just-come-back-from-abroad tans.

I guess it takes all sorts and I’m determined to become a debt free, lots of savings and investments sort…just give me a decade or two.